Kelly Monaco excited for new 'Dancing With The Stars' journey

"General Hospital" star Kelly Monaco is returning to the dance floor this fall for "Dancing With The Stars: All Stars." It was announced Monday morning she'll be paired with Val Chmerkovskiy.

The soap actress won the first mirror ball trophy with her professional partner, Alec Mazo, back in 2005.

In week one, Monaco came in dead last with a score of 13 out of 30. But that didn't matter.

"After that first episode, you know soap fans, they are loyal and dedicated. And I think Bruno said something about me looking like I had to be back in a 'hospital,' and my 'General Hospital' fans went crazy," she said. "I survived that show because of the fans, not because I was technically the best dancer."

Monaco said after being ridiculed in week one, she went to work -- hard. She can also lay claim to having the show's first official wardrobe malfunction when she had to hold on to her costume after a strap broke. Despite the problem, Monaco received the highest score that night.

And just like last time around, she will not get a break from her day job over at "General Hospital."

'It's crazy. We're doing 72 items in a day and I can have anywhere from, you know, five to 75 pages of dialogue in a day so, with that said, yeah, it's going to be tough. It's going to be challenging, but somebody's got to do it," she said.

Monaco says the casting director told her they couldn't imagine doing "All-Stars" with the show's original winner. She says she is honored to be back and she's looking forward to the new experience.

"The journey, I think, is what I'm looking forward to the most about this experience," Monaco said. "I think there's a really spiritual, personal, profound journey that you go through putting yourself through this with the other cast mates and yourself. I'm looking forward to that, like mind, body and soul sort of shape up."

"Dancing With The Stars: All Stars" premieres Monday, September 24 at 8 p.m. on ABC7.